The Excuses of a World Changer: How God Used Reluctant Moses

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Go to harvest.org forward slash virtue. He gave deliberately on purpose. And Pastor Greg Laurie says we need to put that divine equipment to work for His Kingdom. You have no reason why you can't be used of God.

You only have lame excuses. It's no accident that some people can sing and other people can do public speaking. It's not random that some are caregivers and others are organizers. The Lord gives us tools and He has a way for us to use them. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us see how these gifts and abilities are part of God's plan.

And every ability can be used for the Kingdom except those we don't make available to Him. We are learning from the example set for us by Moses. Well let's grab our Bibles and turn to Exodus chapter 3.

And the title of my message is The Excuses of a World Changer. Look at Exodus chapter 3 starting in verse 1. One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He went deep into the wilderness near Sinai, the mountain of God. Suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him as a blazing fire in a bush. He was amazed because the bush was engulfed in flames but it didn't burn up. Moses said to himself, amazing. Why isn't this bush burning up?

I need to go over and see this. And then the Lord when He saw He had caught the attention of Moses, called to Him from the bush. Moses. Moses. Here am I Moses replied. God said don't come any closer. Take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground.

We will stop there. So God proceeds to tell Moses that He is aware of the suffering of the Jewish people. And that God is going to now call Moses to lead those people out of their bondage. And to understand Moses, well he is an old dude now.

He is 80 years old. He is just watching the sheep. All of a sudden there is this bush. This weird bush that is on fire but it is still there.

It is not burning up. What is going on? He walks over and God speaks to him through the bush. Now what is happening?

The Lord is recommissioning him. Now think about this. It is an ordinary bush doing an extraordinary thing. God could have just sent an angel. Hi I am an angel.

Go do this. He had done that before. But no it is this bush that burns. And why do you think the Lord chose that bush? Well in a way it was almost like a picture of Moses. You are like an old bush that is going to start burning.

I have a plan for your life. Listen to what God says to Moses. Exodus 3. I am the God of your father. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now we hear that.

It sounds very impressive. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Right? But wait. Let's think about it for a moment. Because in the World Changers series we have seen the flaws of everyone that God used. These people are not in the Heroes Hall of Faith because they were great people. They were in the Heroes Hall of Faith because they had faith in a great God. This Hall of Faith of Hebrews 11 is filled with a lot of interesting characters.

All with serious problems. Abraham the father of faith had flaws and lapses of faith and lied on multiple occasions. Jacob.

Oh he was legendary for his deception and manipulation. Isaac favored one son over another and didn't really listen to the Lord. So really when God says to Moses I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob what He is saying is I am the God of flawed people.

I am the God of people that make mistakes. Really what the Lord is saying is I am the God of second chances. And why would He say that to Moses? Because Moses needed a second chance.

Because he killed a man and he had spent 40 years thinking he would probably never do anything for the Lord. But the Lord is saying, buddy I am recommissioning you. So park the Winnebago and let's get busy. We have got work to do. And we are going to go and deliver a nation from the power of Egypt. Because I am aware of all that my people are going through. The Lord says that He has heard and He has seen the affliction that the people are facing. And Moses I am calling you to lead them out. Now what Moses should have done was fall on his face and say, thank you Lord for a second chance.

I am ready to go. But what Moses does instead is offer up a bunch of excuses as to why he can't serve the Lord. I bring this up because we all know we are supposed to serve the Lord. We all know that God has a plan for each of us.

We all know that God has given us gifts and talents and abilities and resources to use for His glory. But so often many of us are not doing it. And why are we not doing it? We offer up excuses. Never reasons.

There is no good reason to not serve the Lord. But excuses. As we look at the excuses of Moses you might find yourself in one of them. And this is why I called the message The Excuses of a World Changer.

Excuse number one. Exodus 3.11. I don't deserve to be used by God. He says, who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Moses asked God, how can you expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt? Now you know in a way Moses had a point. I mean would you have picked Moses if you were God?

Why not pick some young guy? Moses had a lot of baggage. You know he had made a lot of mistakes and in a way he was sort of a has-been. A failure.

Even an embarrassment. Why use him? Use somebody you never know. God says, I want Moses. Because I have been whipping this boy into shape for a long time and he is ready to rumble.

This is my man. You know it seems as though God goes out of His way to pick the most unexpected people. God wants to reach the nation of Nineveh. So the Lord calls Jonah.

Listen. Jonah was a racist. He said, what do you mean? He hated the Ninevites. He wanted God to kill the Ninevites. God said, you are the perfect guy to go preach to the Ninevites. I don't want to go.

Yeah whatever. Let's go. And a great revival broke out. And then God wanted a courageous man to lead Israel out of the bondage of the Midianites. Their enemies. So He chooses Gideon who happens to be hiding from his enemy when the angel appears to him. Hiding behind a wall sort of threshing the wheat. And an angel appears and says, hey Gideon you mighty man of courage.

The Lord is with you. Gideon is like, is there another Gideon here? What you mean moi? Me?

Yeah you. Well that doesn't make any sense if there is anything Gideon was not at that moment. It was a mighty man of courage. But listen to this. God doesn't see you for what you are. He sees you for what you can become. He sees potential. It is said that the great master artist Michelangelo was looking at a big slab of marble and he said, I want to liberate an angel from that marble.

See the great artist Michelangelo could just look at a slate of stone and see what would come from it. And God looks at you and says, I know what you can be. You don't know it yet but I know. I know what I can make you into. You will be a mighty man of God. You will be a mighty woman of God.

I don't care if you are young or you are old or you think you are qualified. I will make you into that. So God is saying, Moses I have called you to be this man.

Number two. Moses says, well I don't have all the answers. Exodus 3. Moses protested, if I go to the people and tell them the God of your ancestors has sent me to you they won't believe me. They will ask, which God are you talking about and what is His name?

Then what would I tell them? God says, well you just tell them I am who I am. Just say the I am has sent me to you.

Funny thing. Moses says, who am I? God says, I am that I am. Stop talking about yourself. Stop thinking about yourself.

You just tell them I am has sent you. Moses it is not about you. It is about me. You know I think a lot of times we are afraid if we engage a nonbeliever with the gospel that they will ask us a hard question we don't have the answer to. Well I don't have all the answers. So what? Just get out there and share your faith.

If you don't have an answer go back and study more and you will have more answers next time for sure. But don't let that stop you from telling others about Jesus. Well I don't know if I can prove the existence of God. My job is not to prove the existence of God. My job is to proclaim the good news of the gospel. You say, well what if they don't believe in the Bible? Can I still quote it?

Are you kidding? God says of His Word that it is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. If they believe it or not it is what it is.

And so that would be like you know talking to someone. You have a sword. They say, well I don't believe your sword is real.

Ok man. Like I think your sword is like just an imagination. Let me use my sword on you for a moment.

They are going to believe the sword is real when I give them a good poke with it. Well I don't believe in the Bible. I don't think it is inspired by God.

You are really interesting. Here is what the Bible says. And you just share it with them. And the power of God's Word will penetrate their heart. God says, my Word will not return to me void.

It will prosper in the place where I send it. Years ago when I was starting Crusade Evangelism it was the mid-thirties. I was.

I totally said that wrong. I was in my mid-thirties. I haven't been doing it that long.

Funny. It was actually nineties. But I was in my mid-thirties.

And you know a funny thing. When I was in my thirties I thought I was really old. I thought, wow I am really old now. I am in my thirties. When I talk to young people they say, I am so old I am in my thirties.

They say, please stop. You are not old yet. Ok. Trust me. You will know what I am talking about later. Right.

Well anyway I am getting so old. But you know this opportunity opened up to preach the gospel in arenas and stadiums and such. And I was a little overwhelmed by it. We were visiting with Ruth Graham who we got to know very well. She was Billy's wife.

She is in heaven now. And we were often asked to speak at the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove which is very close to the home of the Grahams. And Billy was usually not there because he was somewhere in the world doing a Crusade. But Ruth was always home. And she would always come out to the Bible studies and take notes.

It was amazing. Like why would you take notes when I am speaking. I mean she was such a wonderful lady. And we would spend a lot of time hanging out with her.

She was fun loving. Quick to laugh. Very knowledgeable of Scripture. Full of wisdom. And one day I said, oh Ruth I am so intimidated doing these Crusades and all this stuff.

I don't feel like I am really ready for it. I need to really brush up on my apologetics. She said, Greg don't worry about that. You just proclaim the gospel. That is what Billy always did and that is what you need to do. And I said, yes ma'am.

And she was right. And you know as the years have passed in my evangelistic preaching I have actually gotten simpler by intention. And why that I mean is I have tried to make the message so understandable not assuming that my listener has a clue as to what I am actually talking about. Not assuming people know biblical terminology because nowadays most don't. And so you have to make it very understandable.

So if they reject it let it be because they don't like the message or want to believe it as opposed to because they don't understand it. In a moment we will see how God got Moses attention through a spectacular miracle right in front of him. That is next as the study continues. Do you have a story that you would like to share with Pastor Greg? If so would you take a moment to write a letter or email? You can email him at gregatharvest.org.

That is gregatharvest.org. Well today Pastor Greg is continuing his World Changers series as we consider the calling God had placed on Moses' life but how he was reluctant to respond. So Moses continues on with this plethora of excuses.

I just wanted to use the word plethora in a sentence. Excuse number three. The people won't believe me. That is in Exodus 4. The people won't believe me. Exodus 4 verse 1. Moses protested again. Look they won't believe me.

They won't do what I tell them. They will just say, the Lord never appeared to you. The Lord says, what do you have there in your hand? Moses said, well a shepherd's staff throw it to the ground the Lord said. So Moses threw it to the ground and it became a snake. Moses was terrified and he turned and ran away.

This is funny to me. He throws it. It runs. It is a snake.

Probably a cobra. The Lord said, take hold of this snake. And he reached down and grabbed it and it became a shepherd's staff again.

Exodus 4 and 5. Perform this sign and they will believe you the Lord told them. And they will realize that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has appeared to you. Now this is crazy because first of all you never grab a snake by the tail. Because they will turn around and bite you. I have told you that before. God says, grab the snake.

Why? The snake was a symbol of Egypt. In particular the cobra. You can look at the, not the car, the snake. You can look at the antiquities of Egypt today and see that cobra there.

Symbolizing the Pharaoh in particular and the nation of Egypt. So here is what God is saying. I am more powerful than the snake. I am more powerful than Egypt. I am more powerful than Pharaoh. So pick it up. A modern vernacular might be take the tiger by the tail.

Don't be intimidated. Face your fears and say the Lord is greater than all of my fears. And that is what Moses did. He picked it up because he was being commissioned by God. And we have been commissioned as well by the Lord to represent Christ to a pagan culture. Moses was called to the pagan culture of Egypt. We are called to the pagan culture of the United States of America. And to the world. And when I say pagan I don't mean that in a mean way.

I mean it in a descriptive way. When I use the word pagan I am talking about people that believe in anything and everything but the right thing. Now there was a time when maybe because of our Judeo-Christian foundation there was a stronger belief in God and higher church attendance.

But those days are far behind us. And I don't think most Americans have even heard the gospel proclaimed accurately. That is why I feel a burden to bring the gospel to the United States. Because we want to reach people that don't know the Lord.

We are all commissioned to do this. And Moses was being commissioned as well at this point. God was telling him to go. Look at excuse number four. Moses says, I am not a good speaker.

Verse 10. Oh Lord I am clumsy with words. I am not a good speaker.

Listen to this. God is not looking for good speakers. He is looking for obedient servants. You don't have to be a good speaker. You just need to be someone who obeys God. He will give you the words.

Because God is more interested in character than charisma. You see. And look I am not a good speaker.

I don't think I am. But I have a great message. And I am confident in my message. And that is why I proclaim it. And you have that same message. And we all need to get it out.

By the way by that applause I am assuming you are affirming that I am not a good speaker. So thanks for that. No seriously.

You know you mean it. But it is true. Ok last excuse.

Number five. I am not qualified. I am not qualified. Verse 13. Lord please send by the hand of whomever else you will send.

That is a fancy way of saying get someone else to do it. Here I am. Lord send him.

Not me. And then he actually suggests his brother Aaron. You know Aaron my bro. He is a. This guy can talk man. He is the gift of gab. Use him.

Lord says I don't want Aaron. I want you. Well I can't do it. I have a speech impediment. I stumble over my words. I stutter.

I just not the guy. Yeah that is why I want you. You have no reason why you can't be used of God.

You only have lame excuses. And ultimately Moses agreed and did what the Lord called him to do. Let me say one last thing as we bring this message to a close.

As Moses went out to proclaim this message of delivering the Israelites from Egypt the Pharaoh was resistant. He told us when you decide to do God's will the devil is not going to help you ok. The devil is going to oppose you with everything he has. We will talk about that next time. But let me shift gears to one final point about excuses. Not only are there excuses we offer as to why we can't be used by God. But there are excuses offered as to why we will not become a Christian. You know you talk to people about their need for Jesus and they will say well I don't believe in that.

You say why. You say well you know the Bible is full of contradictions. When someone says that to me if I have a Bible I love to just pull it out and say well I have a Bible right here.

Show me one. Nine times out of ten. Maybe 99 times out of 100 they don't know any contradictions because they have never read the Bible. They just say that to make you go away.

And if perchance they know of an alleged contradiction they are usually answered pretty easily. And then they will say well you know I don't want to become a Christian because well the church is full of hypocrites. And my word to them or to you if that is your issue is come on and join us. There is always room for one more. Now look.

That is a joke ok. Don't take me seriously. And by that I mean I am not excusing hypocrisy. I wish we were better representatives of Christ. But having said that that is an excuse really. Yeah there are hypocrites in the church. So what? That doesn't change what Christ said.

That doesn't change what He promises. Well I have a lot of questions you might say. I have questions. Just so many questions.

I have questions about questions and even a few more questions. Alright. I understand that.

I did too. But I will say this to you. If you will come to Jesus with all of your questions I guarantee most of them will be answered in short order.

Maybe not every single one. There might be a few you will have to save for heaven. But for the most part once that sin in your heart is removed because you have believed in Jesus so many of those questions will be answered. Because really what you are wanting to know is why am I here on this earth? What is the meaning of my life?

Here is the answer. You are here on this earth to know God and you will find meaning in your life when you come to Jesus Christ who died on the cross for you 2,000 years ago. And shed His blood for the sins you have committed and rose again from the dead and will forgive you right now. And if you have never done that I would like to give you an opportunity to believe in Jesus as we close now in prayer. If you are not sure that you will go to heaven when you die. If you are not certain that you are right with God. If you want to get rid of your guilt.

If you want to have a second chance in life this is your moment. Respond as we pray now. Let's all bow our heads. Father thank You for Your Word to us.

Thank You for loving us so much. You sent Jesus to this earth to die on that cross on our place and to rise again from the dead. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will convict and convince every person here and every person listening of their need for Christ. Help them to believe now we ask.

Amen. Pastor Greg Laurie with an important word of prayer. And if you would like to make a change in your relationship with the Lord today. Pastor Greg will come back in just a moment to help you do that before we conclude today here on The New Beginning.

If you didn't hear every word of Pastor Greg's study over the last few minutes. You can catch up by listening again online at harvest.org or by way of our Harvest mobile app. Just look for the title The Excuses of a World Changer. For a CD copy you can call 1-800-821-3300.

That's a 24 hour phone number 1-800-821-3300. And then we want to speak for a moment with our in-studio guests, authors Jeff and Shanti Feldhahn. They've written the new book called Thriving in Love and Money. They've discovered that more than 90% of couples have tension over money or just avoid the topic altogether.

And their book gets to the bottom of the issues and helps them find harmony in the home. Shanti, as you dug deep into the results of your three year research study, what would you consider the biggest surprise in all the data? The biggest surprise is how much all of us, and definitely me in my own heart, how much I am resisting being one in marriage. And it's coming out in how I handle money. I mean, that was one of the big findings and it hit me because candidly a lot of us have kind of gotten into patterns when money isn't something you love talking about. If you're one of those people who just, it's not your thing, it's really easy to kind of go, you know what, your paycheck goes into your account and my paycheck goes into my account and we don't have to talk about money. And when people say, well, I don't do that, I ask them the same question I had to ask myself once I realized this is, okay, maybe you don't, maybe you combine everything, but ask yourself, do you ever try to pull the Amazon package off the front step before your spouse sees it? That in me was coming from the same exact place of wanting to just do what I wanted to do that causes some people to separate accounts entirely. And during this moment, it's important for us to sort of wrestle with that and recognize this is something we're called to not be you and me, we're called to be we. Oh, that's very good. We're not called to be you and me, we're called to be we.

You're listening to Shanti and Jeff Feldhahn. They've written a book called Thriving in Love and Money, and this is our special resource this month that we want to put into your hands. Folks, you know that when we offer these resources, it's because we want to help you, we want to encourage you, we want to strengthen you, and this is one of the most important that we've ever offered.

And I would remind you that I'm offering this to you for your gift of any size, whatever you send, large or small, we'll get you your copy. But let me encourage you to invest in our ministry because this is a ministry that obviously teaches the Word of God, but it's also a ministry that calls people to Christ. And every year we see literally thousands of people make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ because we'll invite them to do so at the end of our program. So if you believe that people need to come to Jesus, if you believe people need to hear the Word of God, then we would appreciate your investment in our ministry and we'll get you your copy of this book by Jeff and Shanti Feldhahn, Thriving in Love and Money.

Yeah, that's right. It would really be our privilege to send this your way to help bring more connection and contentment to your home. The Feldhahn's discovered that money is the number one stressor in relationships, so help is on the way as soon as you request Thriving in Love and Money, subtitled Five Game-Changing Insights About Your Relationship, Your Money, and Yourself. And today is our last opportunity to mention it. We're sending it to thank you for your donation. It helps touch lives all around the world.

For instance, we read this comment on social media. Pastor Greg, greetings from Dubai. I have enjoyed your old and new studies online. I enjoy your teaching so much, with a little twist of jokes in between.

I love it, I love it, I love it. Keep it up. God bless.

Your contribution is an investment in helping these studies continue to reach out all around the globe. So get in touch today at A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call any time 24-7, 1-800-821-3300, 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Pastor Greg, if somebody listening right now knows that they need to make a change in their relationship with God, they can do that right now, can't they? They really can, and I think some people might say, well, what, pray while listening to the radio?

Absolutely, because guess what? Jesus Christ is with you right where you are right now. And if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life and forgive you of your sin, if you want to invite him into your life, why don't you pray this prayer after me right now? In fact, I would even encourage you to pray it out loud.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I want you to come into my life and forgive me of my sin. I thank you for dying for me on the cross and then rising again from the dead.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Be my Savior, be my Lord, be my God, and be my friend. Thank you for loving me and calling me and forgiving me.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now, listen, as you just prayed that prayer, maybe you felt something emotional. I've had people write me and tell me of how they prayed with me at the end of our radio broadcast, and tears came down their cheeks, or they felt a great joy. Maybe one of those things happened to you, or then again maybe you felt nothing. Listen, irregardless of how you feel right now, I want you to know a fact. If you prayed that prayer and meant it, Jesus Christ has come into your life.

Why do I say that? Because the Bible says, These things we write to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. That first doesn't say, so you can think you have eternal life, or hope if God's in a really good mood you may have eternal life.

No, it says you can know it. And if you just prayed that prayer and meant it, Christ has come into your life. So let me say to you, welcome to God's family. And we'd like to help you get started in living your new life with the Lord. We'd like to send you some free follow-up materials called our New Believers Growth Packet. Just get in touch, and we'll send that packet right out to you.

As I said, it's free of charge. And a special thanks to our Harvest partners and others who support this ministry for helping us to make these available. Here's our mailing address, A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300.

You can reach us anytime at 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. Hey everybody, Greg Laurie here, inviting you to join me every weekend for what we call Harvest at Home. It's a church service, it's a worship service, it's a Bible study, and it's wherever you want it to be. In your home, in your car, sitting on a beach, walking down the street, watching it on your phone, wherever you are, you can take it with you and be ministered to every weekend. Join us for Harvest at Home at harvest.org. Well next time, as Pastor Greg continues his World Changers series, we'll get to stand nearby as Moses has a substantial confrontation with Pharaoh.

And ultimately, Pharaoh hardens his heart, and the nation pays a price. That's next time on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.